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Even though therapeutic applications of RNAi (RNA interference) are far in the future, there is already an siRNA (small interfering RNA) market in target validation work. Navigant Consulting reports in a recent study that RNAi can potentially meet the need for high-throughput gene suppression. The technology, as Navigant senior consultant Alek Bituin says, is maturing. Navigant sees the siRNA market, estimated at $60 million for 2004, as both rapidly growing and evolving. By 2009, siRNA technology might garner $246 million in sales. The leading technology categories involve the molecules themselves and the vehicles used to get them into cells: RNA oligonucleotides, which are siRNA molecules that are synthesized chemically; DNA-based siRNA, in which DNA templates are ferried into cells and siRNAs are produced in vivo; Transfection reagents that permit nucleic material to be absorbed by cells. Currently, the siRNA market for target validation is "relatively immature and volatile," according to the Navigant. RNA oligonucleotides--chains of nucleic acid building blocks or nucleotides that can be chemically synthesized--dominate the market, but both DNA-based siRNA and transfection reagents are likely to encroach on oligonucleotides. Bituin says that, although the debate over the efficacy of DNA-based vectors versus oligonucleotides is not over, the market is shifting toward vectors as the technology becomes more validated. Those products are less expensive and, at times, easier to work with. The idea companies pursue is to integrate RNAi into a target validation package for their customers |
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